5 Burning Questions While Watching ‘The Phantom Menace’

Star Wars

Sep 1

Ask any Star Wars fans what their favourite movie is you will get a various number of answers and generally never any consensus. But if you ask what is their least favourite and it seems almost unanimous, The Phantom Menace. I mean there are a lot of things to absolutely hate and there are minimal things to absolutely love but this is not an article about why you should love or hate the movie.

Instead, let’s take a look at some bizarre and questionable moments from the franchise which at the time seemed strange and head scratching which if you didn’t have that moment, could have reshaped the movie and franchise overall for years to come.

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5. What’s The Deal With Fast Travelling Jedi?

If you remember from the movie’s opening sequence, our intrepid Jedi negotiators (we’ll get to that in a minute), Qui-Gon Jin and Obi-Wan Kenobi find themselves battling not only poison but battle droids which are really dealt with easily but when the Droid Decars show up, the Jedi appear to be outmatched. But never fear, Qui-Gon decides to use this literal blink and miss it ability which allows them to escape with like a blur. This is a great ability for a Jedi to possess but why is it never used ever again? How different would some iconic scenes in the movie look with the ability to disappear in a blur? Imagine the fight between Anakin and Obi-Wan on Mustafar would look if they could bolt away or even towards each other in a blurry mess. Or how about Rey and Kylo fighting on the wreckage of the Death Star 2 and Rey zipping around from place to place? And what’s even crazier is that this is never addressed or even attempted in future movie or properties.

4. How Would The Franchise Change If The Galactic Republic Didn’t Use Jedi For Negotiations?

As we learned in the opening crawl, this whole movie was based on illegal taxation and blockades of small planet and a large corporation. I know even just saying the words in your mind probably put you to sleep but what seems to confuse me is why would the central government send the equivalent of hired guns to conduct negotiations? I mean in a real world sense imagine if the government decided to send army privates to discuss union negotiations because that is what we have here. But let’s decide that the Republic decided to send actual negotiators to deal with this problem. I mean from the sense of the people from Naboo, they probably could’ve had an actual conclusion to their problem without having an invasion. But we all know that if we didn’t have the Jedi, would we have had the thrust into the story which would lead us into Skywalker Saga? I mean the Sith could’ve found another way to make themselves know but then how would Anakin been found. I mean the Jedi, who are known for tracking younglings couldn’t track him down so maybe it is for the best to have the Jedi conduct aggressive negotiations. Plus, if you keep these guys on payroll, you should probably use them.

3. Watto Can’t Have Been The Only Guy Selling Nubian Parts On Tatooine

When the Queen Amidala and her crew are forced to land on the nearest star system to make repairs to the hyperdrive, they decide to go to Tatooine. There is no question that this was a smart idea but deciding to only stay in one city seemed like being stubborn and not looking at the bigger picture. If the goal is to get the Queen to Coruscant right away why bother with just the one junk dealer in town or even on the planet?

We learned in The Book Of Boba Fett we learned there are other towns and while some don’t have the full tilt development of Mos Eisley, there had to be other dealers. And probably one that could’ve been more easily manipulated. Now if Qui-Gon didn’t push then we wouldn’t have had the introduction of Anakin if they moved on to another place but still make you wonder what the endgame was in this trip into town. A follow up question is the Watto tells Qui Gon that his species is not easily affected by Jedi mind tricks and only money talks but why doesn’t Qui Gon recognize that? There had to be some Jedi lesson on galaxy species which explain their relationship with the force.

2. During The Battle On Naboo, How Did No One In The Space Battle Not Realize A Kid Was Flying?

During the third act of the movie, our heroes decide to make a last push into the palace to try and stop droid army from taking over the planet. So, Qui Gon, Obi Wan, a select group of Naboo and young Anakin Skywalker jump into the fray. We can address the fact why the Jedi felt this wasn’t big enough to send more people in another post. Anakin, who we establish is incredibly force sensitive but still a child is told to take shelter during the fighting where he finds himself in the cockpit of a starfighter. After a series of missteps, Anakin finds himself launched into space and in the middle of the attack on the blockade in space. How is no one noticing or hearing a child on the radio? We know everyone can hear each other but why is no one asking who is that? Who brought their kid to work? And even if we use the reasoning that the radios were busted, when Anakin returned to the planet and jumped out of the ship, how was no one freaking right out?! But if Anakin doesn’t have his hero moment, what could’ve worked instead? Perhaps using a lightsabre and trying to fight Darth Maul would have made for an interesting take. I mean Rey was able to take down Kylo Ren in Episode VII so could a young, recently discovered Jedi been able to at least mortally wounded a Sith master? Absolutely.

1. What Were The Sith Really Trying To Accomplish In This Movie?

Halfway through the movie, George Lucas, shows us the ultimate villains in the movie, a long-forgotten sect called the Sith. The reveal to those who were probably die hard at the time of the film probably lost their mind but in the moment we all thought about how this is where Darth Vader came from? Now there is no denying that Darth Maul was a great villain however under utilized in the film which was rectified in spin offs like The Clone Wars and Rebels but if the Sith were supposed to finally reveal themselves was that really accomplished? Why would Darth Sidious decide this is the event to unleash his Sith ways? There had to have been other events going on in the universe that could have played a better in getting their message out. Now I guess in the end Anakin wouldn’t have made it on the radar of Sidious but he easily could have sussed him out through his contacts and minions but if you want to rise an ancient sect, maybe try something with a bigger reach.

So, while we had some fun today thinking about these choices made by Lucas in the film, at the end of the day, Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace will always hold a place in fans’ hearts. It was a return to a franchise and truly laid the groundwork for what the movies and story were going to shape for years to come. The movie is definitely not perfect but as true fans of the franchise, we should just really take it easy and be glad that what we got and just hope no one tries to reboot the movie.

Was there anything you found strange or unusual in the movie? Do you think the other movies have their own strange moments?

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